Tag: poems about inspiration

In the Library of Dreams

For Gordy

In the Library of Dreams
a Poet stood
at the front of a room
lit only by amber candles
dressed in velvet robes
and a crown of laurel
befitting the most
seasoned bards,
a hint of a smile
lifted on his face
familiar
as he pulled from his pocket
a round red ruby
and a sparkling white crystal
explained to all of us
about life and death
the immortality of words
tells us we are given crystals
two apiece at birth
red like an apple
for life and living
white for the wisdom of sages
like himself
a wizard of words
enchanter of stories
sorcerer of time.

Tags Connecticut Poet, Jen Payne, Poem, Poems, poems about inspiration, poems about poets, Poetry

Creativity Poetry

Pointlessness

The warmed blanket
offers as much comfort
as the ghost
who held me in dreams
said all the right things
too late to even consider
a new lease
fucking cliché
at this age
find myself wishing
I were the type
to waste away in bed
where dreams
at least offer promise.

Tags Connecticut Poet, Jen Payne, Poem, Poems, poems about change, poems about healing, poems about inspiration, poems about surgery, poems about transition, Poetry

Creativity Poetry

Weighing Magnitudes

The earthquake of a man
who altered
the course of my life
three seismic times
was nearly killed
several arrhythmic times
just last week

and I want to tell you
I felt the aftershocks

I want to tell you I knew

woke with a start

felt his fault line shift

I want to tell you
I felt something

so I’m standing here
bare feet on the ground
waiting to be moved.

Tags Connecticut Poet, Jen Payne, Memoir, Poem, poem as memoir, Poems, poems about inspiration, poems about transition, Poetry

Creativity Poetry

In Which the Poet Considers Her Way Forward

Post author By Jen Payne
Post date November 12, 2025
No Comments on In Which the Poet Considers Her Way Forward

As one ghost lies dying
from heart ache,
another suffers tragic loss,
and a third fades quietly
into the ether,
she is reminded that
always,
in the epic final battle,
everything resurfaces:
there are fires burning,
smoldering moments of despair,
a defeated arch nemesis,
a warrior waning and

AND

a heroine — walking wounded —
considering the sunrise
its event horizon
the point of no return
from all of this
and all of them
these lost souls
her poetic impetus

what will become of her now?

Tags Connecticut Poet, Jen Payne, Poem, Poems, poems about change, poems about healing, poems about inspiration, poems about surgery, poems about transition, Poetry

Creativity Poetry

She Was Broken

By the time I can walk
freely to the backyard again,
my summer friends have flown,
their brightness replaced
by soft subtle grays,
and I can’t help but wonder
about the cardinal,
her wing askew,
who spent the season
managing her brokeness
as deftly as I navigated
my own;
she moved about
as best as she could,
stayed strong;
found her stride
and her song.
I miss her now,
these cold mornings
more quiet
without our shared infirmary,
and I imagine her
somewhere safe,
like myself,
moving without limit.

*As if on cue, I saw my cardinal friend in the backyard just this morning, the first time in a month!

Tags Connecticut Poet, Jen Payne, Poem, Poems, poems about change, poems about healing, poems about inspiration, poems about surgery, poems about transition, Poetry

Creativity Poetry

Fall Afternoon in the Yard with a New Knee

Post author By Jen Payne
Post date November 10, 2025
No Comments on Fall Afternoon in the Yard with a New Knee

Do the birds know
I am not myself
moving gently towards them
seeds in one pocket
water in the other
barefoot in the cool, damp grass
tticking to call the cardinals
tticking to say I have not forgotten you
I have been here all along
just moving more slowly
finding my way to solid ground
done with the flitterings of grief
and old limitations —
so what of loss?
these leaves had to fall
it is the natural order
churning and churning
everything changing
the leaves, the river,
and time tticking too

Tags Connecticut Poet, Jen Payne, Poem, Poems, poems about change, poems about healing, poems about inspiration, poems about surgery, poems about transition, Poetry

Creativity Poetry

Strange Thing, This Inspiration

Post author By Jen Payne
Post date November 6, 2025
No Comments on Strange Thing, This Inspiration

a poem inspired by Stranger Things, post-op drugs, and him again

The meditation takes me
to the Upside Down —
a crossover of dreams
and Spielberg memories,
where muses suddenly appear
with the Next Great Idea!
on a dark plane of black water,
the beaming light of
What Comes After This;
but he is there, too,
and I say the goodbye
I never get to say
except in dreams
and poems I want to fold up
and leave in secret places,
like the Upside Down,
where maybe he
travels sometimes,
this kindred spirit
who is so familiar
I am always certain
we have crossed paths
in some other life…
or is that just this
rich, deep darkness
of conjuring?
the magic of a poet
turning things over
to see what might be, maybe,
substance for another poem?

Tags Connecticut Poet, hospital poems, Inspiration, Jen Payne, life with ghosts, Poem, Poems, poems about healing, poems about inspiration, poems about surgery, Poetry

Creativity Poetry

Inspiration: A Riff

It is often
effortless
this charge
a light somewhere
a word
a phrase
a road highlighted
on an internal GPS
how to get from here
[ thought ]
to there
[ something written ]
with little but
an invisible arrow
a compelling
a compulsion
an understanding
that it’s fleeting
unforgiving
fickle
if not me and mine
then someone else
somewhere else
will get it
catch it
in whatever way
they have learned to catch
mitt, net, rain barrel

I prefer mine
organic
open a door
a window
my arms
let the words come right in
no ceremony
or formality
no place settings
and certainly
no roughhousing
(live and let live,
I always say)

you wanna be a good poem
or a bad poem,
one anointed with laurels
or just doddering
in the margins?
come on out
with all your slick juices
scream and wail and
take that first breath, baby!

and then there it is
whatever it is
good, bad, mediocre

I don’t mind them
any of them, really
they’re warm-ups
stretches
practice runs
compost

take a deep breath

because the good ones?
Mmm, yeah,
the good ones,
they glow!
preternaturally
hum and buzz
and vibrate a little
so you have to keep
reading them
over and over
pinching a dream
is this real?

You just birthed
an angel, mama —
a wild wondrous angel —
watch her fly!

Poem ©2025 Jen Payne. Photo by Eusebiu Soica. If you like this poem, you can read similar in my books and zines, available from Three Chairs Publishing on my ETSY SHOP. They come autographed, with gratitude and a small gift.